Krishna Seva

[Sital]

Jai Shree Krishna

Wow, this is really fascinating, Prasantji and Palnaji enjoying reading your fervent replies. Ahem! Now that I know the full story I also wish to comment on something you wrote Prasantji

[Prashant]

Nice, this is getting interesting. I like it.

Sitalji, you said:

[Sital]

Jai Shree Krishna

Prasantji, to be honest I do not know a vast amount regarding all the other Sampradayas. Most of which I am aware of, strive for material benedictions, Heaven, Moksh.

However in Pusthimarg to my knowledge it is declared that one is uplifted within 3 janams, unless I guess something goes drastically wrong. This is also evident from the 84/225 vaishnavs varta where all three births are discussed unless one had exceeded their devotion within one lifetime or two and attained Shree Krishna’s abode slightly earlier. I would appreciate it if other senior vaishnavs could comment on this statement and elaborate if possible?

During Brahmasambandh we offer ourselves to Thakorji, does that not denote He is our caretaker, so would help us make certain decisions, which would benefit us in the long run?

The current population as an estimate at present is 6,602,224,175, if from that I take your full estimation of 300,000 souls whom lets just say are all in their last birth. Also take the 270 groups and multiply them by 20,000, together as a percentage come to 0.086% of the population. We are the minority group in this whole picture and spread worldwide. Our estimation could be completely wrong, however if there were larger groups of religious peace full souls, it would be evident.

I think Pusthimarg, as a proportion of the whole population is very small, it is very rare to find vaishnav association and satsang these days. For instance on this website which is available worldwide, How many are registered, interact and participate? Even searching the net for other websites and counting vaishnavs who are involved, in comparison to the population there are not many.

I agree Prasantji; there are some concepts in Pusthimarg, which have been twisted to suit individual’s need. Conversely there is literature out there and on the web, which does present the truth.

I apologise if I have written anything out of the contrary, please do correct my mistakes if needed

JSK
_________________
Madhurkomalkant padavali namami
Sital

[Sital]

Jai Shree Krishna

An email received which I wanted to share with you all, A must read for all of us who get discouraged at times:

The Fern and the Bamboo.....

One day I decided to quit.... I quit my job, my relationship, my
spirituality..... I wanted to quit my life. I went to the woods to have one
last talk with God.

"God", I said. "Can you give me one good reason not to quit?"

His answer surprised me...

"Look around", He said. "Do you see the fern and the bamboo?"

"Yes", I replied.

"When I planted the fern and the bamboo seeds, I took very good care of
them. I gave them light. I gave them water. The fern quickly grew from the
earth. Its brilliant green covered the floor. Yet nothing came from the
bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo.

In the second year the Fern grew more vibrant and plentiful. And again,
nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo".

He said. "In the third year, there was still nothing from the bamboo seed.
But I would not quit.

In the fourth year, again, there was nothing from the bamboo seed. But I
would not quit.

He said. "Then in the fifth year a tiny sprout emerged from the earth.
Compared to the fern it was seemingly small and insignificant.

But just 6 months later the bamboo rose to over 100 feet tall. It had spent
the five years growing roots. Those roots made it strong and gave it what
it needed to survive. I would not give any of my creations a challenge it
could not handle."

He said to me. "Did you know, my child, that all this time you have been
struggling, you have actually been growing roots. I would not quit on the
bamboo. I will never quit on you. Don't compare yourself to others."

He said. "The bamboo had a different purpose than the fern, yet, they both
make the forest beautiful."

"Your time will come," God said to me. " You will rise high!"

"How high should I rise?" I asked.

"How high will the bamboo rise?" He asked in return.

"As high as it can?" I questioned.

"Yes." He said, "Give me glory by rising as high as you can."

I left the forest and brought back this story. I hope these words can help
you see that God will never give up on you........

Never regret a day in your life.
Good days give you Happiness.
Bad days give you Experiences.
Both are essential to life.
Keep going...
Happiness keeps you Sweet,
Trials keep you Strong,
Sorrows keep you Human,
Failures keep you Humble,
Success keeps You Glowing,
But Only God keeps You Going!
Have a great day! The Sun is shining!

God is so big He can cover the whole world with his Love and so small He
can curl up inside your heart.

JSK
_________________
Madhurkomalkant padavali namami
Sital

[palna]

Jai Shree Krishna,
OH WOW Sitalji....That was lovely! Thank you very much!!
_________________
Prem Bandhan Ajab Gajab, Brahmaganth sami aa ganth, na tutai na chutai

Palna na Koti Koti Jai Shree Krishna

[Prashant]

Jai Shree Krishna,
Very nice story Sitalji. The best part was your derivation, a small poem or the quotes that you wrote.

On separate note, I was still waiting for some one to conclude the brahmsambandh topic especially about the mukti in 3 janams. Anyways we will continue this on the "Questions" topic because the current question under that topic is related in some way or the other.
_________________
Life can be lived in several ways but the quality of your life depends on the things to which you give priority

- Prashant

[Sital]

Jai Shree Krishna

Thank You Palnaji & Prasantji, I must confess that the entire previous posting had come in the form of an email, just to let you know that none of it is my own derivative except for the added wink which also belongs to Krishnaseva

JSK
_________________
Madhurkomalkant padavali namami
Sital

[Prashant]

Jai Shree Krishna,
I hope you all have read the sufi story from the article "Journey Within" that I posted on Fri Aug 03, 2007. What do you think about this story. Does that make any sense? May be? If you haven't yet read the story than please refer to that once again. This is on page 5 of this very topic.

Since the story says that believing without expereicing could be deceptive, I would like to tweak the story a bit, not to confuse everyone but just want to give some food for thought.

Different version of the sufi story....(Please read the original story first)

Once it happened that a fish in the "POND" heard someone talking about the ocean, and the fish heard for the first time that there exist something like the ocean. She started to search, she started to ask and inquire, but nobody knew where the ocean was. Many fish, great and small, known and unknown, famous and not so famous, but nobody was capable of answering where the ocean is. They all said, they have heard about it; they all said, “Sometime in the past our ancestors knew it-it is written in the scriptures.” But nobody knew about it since they were all in the "POND" all their life. In order to know about ocean the fish has to see the ocean, have to be in the ocean. It is not possible for someone to know exactly about it without experiencing themself.
Or in order to gain some knowledge about it, the only option she has is to believe other fish who has experienced it. But this could be deceptive... ...

The nearest is so near that you cannot look at it, because even to look at something a certain distance is needed, space is needed. At the same time if something is at a very far distant one could never see it.

In the original story there is no space between you and the divine; there is no space between the fish and ocean-no gap. The fish is part of the ocean, just like a wave; or the ocean is just the infinite spread of the being of the fish. They are not two; they exist together, their being is joined together. Their bodies may appear different but their inner spirit is one, it is unitary.

In Tweaked version, there is infinite distance between fish and ocean. Its like searching for Taj-Mahal in Bombay.

So there is always two sides of the coin, how do we know which one is right. Quite confusing right......Thoughts ????
_________________
Life can be lived in several ways but the quality of your life depends on the things to which you give priority

- Prashant

[Sital]

Jai Shree Krishna

Please read below:

Once upon a time a very strong woodcutter asked for a job in a timber
merchant, and he got it. The pay was really good and so were the work
conditions. For that reason, the woodcutter was determined to do his
best.

His boss gave him an axe and showed him the area where he was supposed
to work. The first day, the woodcutter brought 18 trees
"Congratulations," the boss said. "Go on that way!"

Very motivated for the boss' words, the woodcutter tried harder the
next day, but he only could bring 15 trees. The third day he tried
even harder, but he only could bring 10 trees. Day after day he was
bringing less and less trees.

"I must be losing my strength", the woodcutter thought. He went to the
boss and apologized, saying that he could not understand what was
going on. "When was the last time you sharpened your axe?" the boss
asked.

"Sharpen? I had no time to sharpen my axe. I have been very busy
trying to cut trees.

Our lives are like that. We sometimes get so busy that we don't take
time to "sharpen the axe." In today's world, it seems that everyone is
busier than ever, but less happy than ever. Why is that? Could it be
that we have forgotten how to stay sharp? There's nothing wrong with
activity and hard work. But at the same time we need to learn more and
sharpen our skills.

We all need time to take care of who we really are as spiritual
beings, find time to awaken our dormant love and devotion for the
Supreme Personality of Godhead

JSK
_________________
Madhurkomalkant padavali namami
Sital

[Pushtidas]

Jai Shree Krishna

Thank you Sitalji this was a lovely story, I enjoyed the analogy and the beautiful deduction at the end.

Absolutely, we all really have forgotten to sharpen our existence, our being, our duties and foremost our religious entity. We are more engrossed in material world and forgotten that a spiritual world does exist, hence, we also forgotten that mere virtue of our birth on the plane of the universe.
_________________
Dasa nu das
Pushtidas

[Vasant Punjabi]

Jai Shri Krishna,

Enjoyed your story Sitalji it was nice. Here is one more!!!!!

FORGET AND FORGIVE

A kindergarten teacher has decided to let her class play a game. The teacher told each child in the class to bring along a plastic bag containing a few potatoes. Each potato will be given a name of a person that the child hates, so the number of potatoes that a child will put in his/her plastic bag will depend on the number of people he/she hates.
So when the day came, every child brought some potatoes with the name of the people he/she hated. Some had 2 potatoes; some 3 while some up to 5 potatoes.

The teacher then told the children to carry with them the potatoes in the plastic bag wherever they go for 1 week.

Days after days passed by, and the children started to complain due to the unpleasant smell let out by the rotten potatoes. Besides, those having 5 potatoes also had to carry heavier bags.

After 1 week, the children were relieved because the game had finally ended.

The teacher asked: "How did you feel while carrying the potatoes with you for 1 week?" The children let out their frustrations and started complaining of the trouble that they had to go through having to carry the heavy and smelly potatoes wherever they go.

Then the teacher told them the hidden meaning behind the game.

The teacher said: "This is exactly the situation when you carry your hatred for somebody inside your heart. The stench of hatred will contaminate your heart and you will carry it with you wherever you go. If you cannot tolerate the smell of rotten potatoes for just 1 week, can you imagine what is it like to have the stench of hatred in your heart for your lifetime???"


Moral of the story:
Throw away any hatred for anyone from your heart so that you will not carry sins for a life time. Forgiving others is the best attitude to take!

Forget & Forgive!!!!! !!!!!!!!! !!
_________________
Vasant Punjabi.

"Shri Vallabh Shri Vithal Sukh-kari naa-me nishpap thai nur-nari,
------Nitya Lila nitya nautam shruti na pame par."----

[Nital]

Jai Shree Krishna,

Vasantji, I reaaly liked that story - it demonstrates very nicely the effects of carrying negative attitudes towards others.

Athough it can be difficult to forgive and forget - we really need to train ourselves to do this automatically as we don't want our hearts to turn rotten and smelly like the potatoes - otherwise Thakorji will not reside there!

JSK

[Prashant]

Jai Shree Krishna,
Nice stories Vasantji and Sitalji. Sitalji, the woodcutter story is so applicable in each and every aspect of our life. Most of the activities in our life is so mechanical without any thought process. Our activites have no observation, no thought process rather just a follow through of what masses are doing. Most of us just follow the crowd without our individual thoughts. And yet we expect our activities to be joyful. Is it possible? Do we ever take time out to think on what we do? Do we take any action in the direction that we think is right. Do we ever listen to our inner conscious and follow it?

Listening to inner conscious, spending time with own self is like sharpening the tool in terms of spirituality. This sharpening is required in every activity we do may it be job, bussiness, studies or spirituality. No aspect of life can progress without sharp tools.

By and large a wonderful story. Thank you for sharing with us.
_________________
Life can be lived in several ways but the quality of your life depends on the things to which you give priority

- Prashant

[Vasant Punjabi]

Jai Shri Krishna,

This is one of the best explanations of why God allows pain and suffering that I have seen...

A man went to a barbershop to have his hair cut and his beard trimmed.
As the barber began to work, they began to have a good conversation.

They talked about so many things and various subjects.
When they eventually touched on the subject of God, the barber said:
"I don't believe that God exists."

"Why do you say that?" asked the customer. "Well, you just have to go out in the street to realize that God doesn't exist.

Tell me, if God exists, would there be so many sick people?
Would there be abandoned children?
If God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain.
I can't imagine a loving God who would allow all of these things."
The customer thought for a moment, but didn't respond because he didn't want to start an argument.
The barber finished his job and the customer left the shop.

Just after he left the barbershop, he saw a man in the street with long, stringy, dirty hair and an untrimmed beard.

He looked dirty and unkempt. The customer turned back and entered the barber shop again and he said to the barber:
"You know what? Barbers do not exist."
"How can you say that?" asked the surprised barber.

"I am here, and I am a barber. And I just worked on you!"
"No!" the customer exclaimed. "Barbers don't exist because
if they did, there would be no people with dirty long hair and untrimmed beards, like that man outside."

"Ah, but barbers DO exist! That's what happens when people do not come to me."
"Exactly!" affirmed the customer. "That's the point! God, too, DOES exist!

That's what happens when people do not go to Him and don't look to Him for help.
That's why there's so much pain and suffering in the world."
_________________
Vasant Punjabi.

"Shri Vallabh Shri Vithal Sukh-kari naa-me nishpap thai nur-nari,
------Nitya Lila nitya nautam shruti na pame par."----

[Sital]

Jai Shree Krishna

Thanks Vasantji, that was a lovely story illustrating wonderful messages.

Thanks Again

JSK
_________________
Madhurkomalkant padavali namami
Sital